U.K.’s Boris Johnson vote of confidence explained
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Boris Johnson is the British Prime Minister and speaks with maths classes during a visit to Oakwood School, Uxbridge, England on January 10, 2022.
Leon Neal | Getty Images News | Getty Images
LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing the political battle of his career with a growing rebellion from within his own party after multiple allegations of parties and gatherings of government staff, including himself, during coronavirus lockdowns.
An investigation is being conducted to find out the origin and purpose of the gatherings as well as whether Covid legislation was infringed. As the investigation’s results are expected to be published soon, more Conservative Party members could turn against Johnson and launch a confidence vote.
CNBC provides a quick guide to an extremely British political crisis.
Is there something going on?
Johnson’s leadership has been under enormous pressure following weeks of media reporting of many parties and gatherings attended at times by government workers, including Johnson.
Johnson has been captured at one gathering, which took place in May 2020 during the peak of the initial lockdown. During this time, the public could only meet with one person outside their family in an outdoors setting.
Johnson admitted to Parliament last week that he attended the party — billed as a “bring your own booze” gathering in Downing Street’s garden to which around 100 people were reportedly invited. He told Parliament that he only went to the party to thank staff for their hard work, and that he believed that it was an office event.
Dominic Cummings is a former adviser and well-known political foe. He accused Johnson of lying before Parliament. Cummings claimed Johnson told him that the Prime Minister was warned about Covid violations at that time. Johnson denies this.
According to politicians, Johnson would have to resign if he is proven to have lied before Parliament.
Many Johnson’s Conservative Party lawmakers say that they await the findings of an investigation into the origins of parties and gatherings. Johnson has been publicly criticized by others, who have sent increasing numbers of letters de rebuke to the chair of the “1922 Committee,” expressing their dismay at his decision to resign.
What is the 1922 Committee, then?
The 1922 Committee, which is basically a parliamentary committee that monitors the Conservative Party’s leadership issues, is in essence a parliamentary body. This influential party group is made up of several backbencher Conservative lawmakers.
The “frontbench” lawmakers, which sit beside the prime minister at Parliament, are different from backbench ones in that they don’t head up any government ministries and departments. Backbenchers can meet on a weekly basis when the House of Commons has been sitting to discuss and coordinate with each other.
Conservative legislators can write letters to Graham Brady expressing their dismay at the leader of the group and asking him to hold a confidence vote. For such a vote to be triggered, however, Brady must receive letters from 15% of Conservative MPs, or 54 of the 360 Tory MPs.
Sky News reported Wednesday that it believed that 12 more letters were needed to trigger a leadership challengeBrady is the only person who knows the exact number, as confidentially the letters were sent. The number of letters is not clear, but some lawmakers have stated publicly that they had written the 1922 Committee to express their dismay at Johnson’s leadership.
Fun fact: In April 1923, the 1922 Committee was set up by Tory MPs who were elected in the 1922 election to strengthen cooperation within their party.
The next steps?
Some MPs have stated that they await the results of Sue Gray’s investigation into “partygate”, as the British media has called it. However, if enough confidence letters are received by the chairman of the 1922 Committee, then the vote will be activated.
Sky News reported that the 1922 Committee was considering changing the rule to permit two votes per annum if Johnson is supported by a majority Tory MPs.
Johnson could lose the vote and be required to resign. A Conservative leadership election would start. Johnson as ousted leader would not be permitted to stand in that scenario.
Johnson might choose to resign on his own, although Sky News reported that Johnson doesn’t seem to intend to. Sky News said Johnson appeared ready to go out and fight against his enemies. He reportedly told his allies to “bring them on.”
What happens next will depend on the response of MPs to Sue Gray’s findings, which are expected to be published next week.
Johnson might be able to continue until May’s local elections, but that is only if legislators allow the polls to gauge public opinion about the party. One might be hesitant to take this risk, with the YouGov/Times newspaper voting poll released last week indicating a decrease in support for Conservatives while giving Labour the lead.
How do Johnson’s critics feel?
The opposition Labour Party is not surprised to be critical of Johnson’s leadership, his remarks on attending the May 2020 party, and has called repeatedly on Johnson for his resignation.
Johnson apologized to the nation for attending the event and Labour leader Keir starmer stated that Johnson’s excuse (that he thought it was work) was so ridiculous it is offensive to British people. Starmer called upon Johnson to “do the right thing” and resign.
Starmer was charged with a crime last Sunday. Johnson of lying about what he called “industrial scale partying” in Downing Street.
His statement was, “The facts are clear and convincing, and the country is in control,” adding that it was “blindingly apparent” what had happened. He broke the law. I believe he did. he told the BBC.
CNBC was told Wednesday by Angela Rayner (deputy leader of Labour) that Johnson has “started to look really stupid now” and that the British public is very mad about it.
“There is one thing that breaks the rules, and there’s another.” [when]You’re trying lie to get out of the situation and trick people into believing they are stupid for not following the rules. Rayner stated that it is not working well in all areas of the United Kingdom.
According to her, Johnson’s threshold for confidence voting was nearing its completion. She believes that such a vote is now a possibility.
Johnson was also heavily criticised within his party. On Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions at Parliament, which began in dramatic fashion when one Tory MP crossed the parliament floor in order to defect to Labour, David Davis, a senior Tory MP, told Johnson, “In the Name of God, Go!”
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